Project Remnant

by Aworldnotsosimple00

"The world of Remnant?" Jaune said holding the case in his hand. He looked up at Sun who grinned and gestured for him to keep reading. He rolled his eyes and looked back down at the case. "The world of Remnant is a sandbox-oriented massively multiplayer online role-playing game." He looked back at Sun. "Why do I get he feeling you want me to play this with you?"

3. Chapter 3

Project Remnant

~ 0 ~

I do not own RWBY

~ 0 ~

"Thoughts"

"Speech"

'words with implied meaning.'

Regular text

Menu info

"Disembodied voice."

"Disembodied thoughts /Memories."

~ Ch 3 ~

~ Why does it hurt so much ~

Jaune's thoughts died, and he closed the menu looking up to see a group of three guys looking at him or, more specifically, the item in his hand. "Hey, buddy," The tall one wearing full plate armor with a greatsword on his back said as he walked up. "Whatchya got there, huh?"

Jaune just sat there looking at the guy. What Sun had told him yesterday about high-level people camping lower level areas to farm players rushed into his mind. He started to sweet, and he stood up, feeling nervous.
"Uh. Hello." He said with a small wave trying to be as friendly as possible.

The three guys looked at each other curiously and then turned back to him, eyeing him warily. "Hey," They all said in unison.
One of them. The one wearing what looked like rouges clothes what with him being wrapped in black leather and belts with a high collar covering his mouth. He had a dagger in hand that he gesture at Jaune while scowling him. "Hey man, that gear looks way different than anything in town. Where'd you get it? It's pretty cool."

The shorter stout guy in their group wearing thick padded chaps accompanied by scale armor with a lance and a large round shield on his back nodded in agreement.
The guy in full plate looked him up and down as if realizing it for the first time and grinned. "Yeah, it is pretty cool. So." He looked Jaune in the eyes. "Where'd you get it?"

He answered as calmly as he could sounding rather emotionless if he was honest. "Atlas. I got it from Atlas." He remembered that clearly. It had been where Ruby had dragged him off to on their fifth week playing. It had taken almost two days for the rickety old boat to get them there, but once they logged back in and got outfitted using all the materials they'd had to make new armor, she'd said it was totally worth losing two days of grinding.
He looked at the guys remembering his armor stats. "Kinda got into a fight, and now it's broken though," He said, tapping at the hole in the breastplate for emphasis.

The turtle nodded at him in understanding. "Yeah, man, I've been through the same shit."

The rouge kicked the dirt growling. "Fuckin Atlas! Always get the best shit. I knew I should have joined their faction!"

The other two grumble in agreement, and then the one who seemed to be the leader stepped up, pulling out his greatsword. "Well, there is one way we can get some better shit." He pointed the massive chunk of steel at Jaune and smirked. "Hey man, we wanna see the crystal you were looking at just now."

~ 0 ~

Jaune stood motionless, staring at the tip of the sword in front of his nose. It was strange. His heart was pounding ridiculously fast, but he honestly felt calm. A strange contradiction, but hey, it was a game. Maybe knowing that had some kind of weird effect on his brain.

He looked down at the crystal in his hand, a strange feeling of possessiveness washing over him. Sun had told him to start standing up for himself and stop taking shit from other people. Call him crazy, but maybe this game was telling him to turn over a new leaf. While looking at the crystal in his hand, he felt a smile creep to his face.
He didn't want to give up any of them. Yeah, he had a fuckton, but they, along with everything his character had were the last bits of proof he had that Ruby used to be his friend before he fucked everything up. He wasn't about to be extorted or mugged for them.

Letting out a sigh, he put the crystal in the satchel hanging from the many belts around his waist, and it returned to his inventory.
He looked up at the three guys with a calm expression and smiled. "No, thank you."
IRL he'd have given it up, feeling his life was worth more, but this was a game focused around PVP. They couldn't see his inventory, and he was sure they'd just attack him anyways.

The worst thing that could happen was he dies, and due to the pendant, he'd have to wait 6 hours to get up, but they'd no doubt loot his body while he was waiting, and he'd lose everything. If they thought he'd give them anything, they were dead wrong. He looked into the eyes of the guy across from him, his smile turning into a glare. "Move. I have somewhere I need to be."

The three guys looked at each other shocked, and then the leader smirked. "Ooh ho ho ho ho. Tough guy, huh." The other two snickered from behind him. The big guy brandished his sword then swung it into the ground with a resounding crash, sending dirt everywhere.

Jaune just stood there watching with a stern expression as the dust and force of the air from the action blew his coat around. This guy was reminding him of Cardin if only a bit. They were both bullies, and that was reason enough for him to dislike this guy.
He tightened his fists and turned to leave, heading down the road only to stop a couple of steps later as a few throwing knives landed in the ground just in front of where his sabaton was. He looked down at them then up.
The thin guy and short guy had taken up spots on his flank while the big guy was walking around to his front. "I don't think you understand how this works." He hefted his sword over his shoulder and grinned maliciously at Jaune. "I tell you something, and you do it. Now hand over that Item. I'd rather not have to get my equipment dirty."

Jaune watched the guy while slowly pulling out his sword. He wasn't anything special in the real world, and his sports grades in school were always average or just above at best, but he knew how to fight, and this wasn't his first rodeo in 'The world of Remnant,' but it would be his first time fighting alone.

He tightened his grip on the hilt as he let it rest at his side, a frown spreading across his face. He had no armor, and his old skills were all gone, not that he could even remember what they were. All he had were his stats and the bonuses the pendant gave. With all his armor broken, he did have that debuff active, which in turn activated the special buff from the pendant.

It wasn't much. Hell, Jaune didn't even know how much these guys had themselves, but he wasn't handing anything over. He lifted his sword, pointing it at the guy in front of him. "You'll have to take it from me." He said in a cold tone.
He was trying to control his nerves, and the only way he could was through a strategy his father taught him. You had to picture everything around you as a faceless shadow and speak as if you were dealing with the devil himself. Which when you were a businessman wasn't too far from reality.

The three guys around him all flinched at his tone, and the two behind him looked at their leader, who was giving him a weird look. "Hey, Cardin. I can't see his name or level. You think this is a good idea. The tall thin guy said nervously." He lifted his dagger and took up a stance as he drew another.

Jaune's eyes narrowed at the name. It couldn't be the same, Cardin. Could it? And that information about his level not being displayed above his head meant the pendant was indeed doing what it said it did. He couldn't see their info either.

The guy named Cardin pulled his sword behind him getting low. "Shut up, Rus. This guy can't be a high level if he's out here by himself. It's a staring area. No one with a high level in their right mind would be out here. He's probably just some punk who got a random lucky drop. I mean, look at him, his armors broken in a starting area."

The other guy stepped back. "But dude, I can't see his name or his level either. You can't turn that stuff off. And look, He's, he looks just like the guy on the cover maybe he's."

*Boom*

The greatsword swung into the ground again. "Shut up and get him, Dove!"

Jaune frowned. So it was Cardin. Cardin, Russel, and Dove. He narrowed his eyes. Even if they killed him, he'd make them work for it. And if he actually won. Well. They owed him some money.

~ 0 ~

~ song - God Diva - by ALI project ~

Fun fact. This, and all games using AVRH's, have a fascinating engine they run on. It has a system where when you use skills and abilities; it does this thing to your brain where you feel like you're the one doing it. Now that being said, when you aren't doing a scripted action, everything else is dependant on the game's physics, and your imagination, or skill as it were.

Now Jaune being a daydreamer and having been around comics, games, and anime his whole life, had a very active imagination. That added on top of all the crazy vacations his father took the family on turned his active imagination into a very detailed and active imagination. His father had also made sure all of his kids had self-defense training after becoming wealthy.
Jaune was a black belt in two fighting styles, but he sure as hell didn't have a big body, and he hadn't practiced in a couple of years, but his mind was sharp.
Now for the coup de grace. He'd spent so much time in single-player VR worlds and used scripted actions to hell and back so many times that he'd learned how to tell the exact moment you went in and came out of them, which he used to significant effect.

It was something even Ruby had been impressed by. She'd begged him to teach her, but he hadn't been able to, It was more a feeling and timing thing than a process you could teach. In this game, he was a force to be reckoned with. Ruby had even commented on his coordination and abilities being way better in-game than her's. It was also why that lady had asked him to join her guild before she killed him.

He was pulled from his thoughts as Russel rushed him shouting out a skill. "Sparrow thrust!"

Jaune quickly raised his sword and stumbled to the side, clashing with the dagger as it came at his face. He stumbled back, throwing Russel's attack to the side, spinning around uneasily, dodging the second blade while kicking him in the gut just before he was hit from the side with a shield. He fell onto his back but rolled onto his feet, bringing his sword up in both hands across his body, bracing it against his shoulder as the shield crashed into him again. He gritted his teeth and pushed back, knocking the other boy off balance as he shouted out a skill.

"Cutting gavotte!" the first slash hit Dove's shield, knocking it away as the second slash hit him across the chest, making him cry out as he stumbled back. Jaune stepped forward, lifting the blade above his head and slashed down on Dove, hitting him across his entire body. As his sword hit the ground, a wave of energy shot forward, hitting Dove yet again, and he fell back, clutching his chest, screaming in pain as he fell.

"Ahh, it hurts! God fucking damn it!"

Just as Jaune came out of the animation, he saw a shadow on the ground under him growing larger, and he rolled forward, dodging the heavy slash from Cardin. There was a loud crash, and more dust filled the air. Jaune brought his arm up, covering his face when three daggers hit his arm, and he felt a searing pain.

*Drip drip drip plip.*

He looked down at the ground. Was...that blood? He looked over at his arm with wide eyes and a horrified expression on his face. He was bleeding! How! The game didn't work like that. He'd just slashed Dove several times, and nothing happened except him being a cry baby about the games pain modifier. But this.
He ripped the daggers out, jumping back as several more landed where he'd been. And he felt them leave his arm. He actually felt them!

He threw them on the ground and winced as he brought his sword up. He glared at Russel and moved to rush him, but he saw a glint out the corner of his eye, and he stopped suddenly as Cardin's sword slammed into the ground right in front of him. He glared at Cardin but ignored him and stepped on his blade, jumping off of it flying at Russel, blade raised.

Russel's eyes widened, and he tried to dodge out of the way, but the skills in this game have tracking, so as long as he attacked after Russel dodged, it would land. Right after Russel's boots kicked off the ground, he shouted his only combo booster. "Diminuendo Dive!"

His downward slash was canceled and fluidly transitioned into a stabbing attack that hit Russel right in the gut knocking the wind out of him.
Jaune landed on the ground, twisting his sword while it was still stabbed into Russel, making him wince as he tried to attack Jaune.
He went low, dodging the slash while grabbing the sword in both hands, and then he slashed upwards while jumping, sending the boy flying.
Jaune followed him and spun around, gathering momentum and stabbed down at Russel with all his strength.

There was an animation of cracking glass, and the games young narrator voice shouted.
"ARMOR BREAK!"

Russel hit the ground with a loud groan and grabbed his gut, rolling over onto his side as Jaune landed.
"Rising Sun!" Dove yelled from Jaune's right. He turned to look, seeing him thrusting his lance as a bright light shone around it. His eyes widened at the blinding light. Judging by the name of the skill, it was a high attack, so despite being blind, he dodged low, bringing his sword over his head, and when he heard the crunch of dirt in front of him, he shot up.

There was a loud oof as he hit Dove in the gut and threw him over his back, getting a yelp from the boy. He spun around quickly and yelled in his cold tone. "Crescendo Spike!" the animation started up, and he slashed down at Dove twice, hearing him scream in pain again.
While he was winding up for the rising slash, Cardin jumped into the air yelling. "Earth Shatter!" Just as Cardin was coming down at Jaune, he dragged his blade across the ground catching Dove, throwing him into the air. Hitting Cardin, who being in the same party, continued his attack. As his greatsword was about to hit him, Jaune's sword stabbed up, and there was a flash of blue sparks as another message appeared between Cardin and Jaune announced by the games young narrator again.

"COMBO BREAKER!"

Several transparent octagons appeared between Cardin's and Jaune's swords, and then Cardin was thrown back into the air, his sword flying away as Jaune's combo continued, and he stabbed Cardin in the gut sending him after his sword.

Russel was holding his gut trying to help Dove stand up when Cardin landed on top of them knocking them all to the ground with a loud collective oof. Jaune gripped his blade tightly as the animation came to an end and just as it did he rushed forward Shouting out the next skill. "Eternal Refrain!"

None of them were using any kind of magic, and they were classic melee classes from what he could tell, so he figured they didn't have much if any magic defense. He hoped this would do the trick. With all of those stat boosts from the pendant, he didn't want to let this drag on, and he was feeling woozy from his debuffs. He swore his arm was still bleeding, what with his sword feeling slippery in his right hand.

He lifted his sword skyward, and it became wreathed in light, reaching high into the sky. Birds flew from trees, and the world seemed to grow darker as the brilliance from the magic attack overpowered the sun's natural light. He jumped forward high into the air and brought the shining beam of light down on all three of them.

They all looked up at the attack as it came down at them. Russel was speechless his jaw hanging open while Cardin had a stupefied look on his face. Dove was the only one to talk, and he pointed shouting. "It is! It is him! it's."
And the attack hit them, making the surrounding road crack as dust flew into the air. And all that followed was the settling of dust accompanied by Jaune's labored breathing.

~ Song end ~

~ 0 ~

As the dust settled, Jaune felt light-headed collapsing to his left knee, using his sword to prop himself up. He gasped for breath feeling like shit, and tried to take steady deep breaths. It was weird. He shouldn't be feeling this tired, especially since the game didn't let you get tired like in real life. It had to be something to do with the 'exhausted' debuff he'd gotten earlier.

Swallowing and taking one more deep breath, he stood up while sheathing his sword. The sound of clapping met his ears, and he turned to look and see who was there. Standing just off the road under the shade of a tree was a woman with an hourglass figure, long wild black hair, and pale skin.

She was wearing a kimono of sorts with gauntlets of red iron around her hands and black thigh length boots, a katana resting on her hip. She also had on a bunch of black beaded necklaces and four rings on her left hand with some blood-red ruby earrings. Covering her face was a bone-white mask that had red markings.

Something told him he should be afraid of her, but he just couldn't bring himself to be. He was too tired. Yeah, he'd just killed Cardin, Russel, and Dove. Putting them in their places here, but the exhilaration of winning despite his broken equipment and half baked character was warring off quickly. If she wanted to start a fight, he wasn't sure he could keep going.

He narrowed his eyes at her and gripped the sword he'd just put away, but she held up her hands and walked out to meet him. "That was pretty impressive." She looked down over at the three on the floor and gestured to them before returning her gaze to him. "You gonna take their stuff before they Respawn?"

He looked at her in confusion. "What?" He was having trouble processing right now, and honestly, he thought he was suffering from the effects of an adrenalin crash. Wait, could adrenalin affect him while he was playing this game?

The woman watched him carefully for a second longer. "Hmm. You really are him, aren't you?"

He looked at her, even more confused. "Who?"

She put a hand on her hip and tilted her head, looking above his head. She made a noncommittal noise and then chuckled while shaking her head. "Beaten by an NPC. What a joke." She turned to the three on the ground and moved over to them, her inventory window opening as well as theirs.
She hummed and then hit something in the bottom right of her inventory, and suddenly Cardin, Russel, and Dove were in the default clothes of the game. Their fallen weapons disappearing as well.

He continued watching her and frowned. It just hit him what she'd meant. He killed them fair and square that stuff was his! He looked at her equipment again and then sighed, thinking better of trying to argue with her. He instead focused on her previous statement. "You called me an NPC. Why?" He studied her as his breath finally caught up.

She stood up, fixing her kimono, and turned to look at him. "What? You saying you aren't one?" She fixed him with a searching look and glanced above his head again. "Because you don't have a screen name and your level doesn't show up, but." She paused for a second and then relaxed. "When I target you, your name pops up in my targeted box in a teal font, meaning you're an NPC."

Jaune blinked, giving her a confused look. "What the hell? Why is it doing that?" He would have gone back to look at the effects of the pendant, but he couldn't because of one of its other effects that stopped him from looking at stat screens. He scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Well, I can tell you I'm definitely not an NPC."

She shrugged. "Then some kinda A.I. It doesn't matter to me. It was interesting to see some upstarts think they could edge in on my territory and get away with it." She turned to face the three on the ground with folded arms and laughed. "Funny thing is I didn't have to lift a finger, and I still got their stuff."

"You're welcome," He said absentmindedly while thinking about the pendant and what she'd just told him. What she'd said about his name popping up when targeted struck him, though. He looked at her and held still for a second. Then in the upper left corner of his HUD under menu and log out, a box popped up.

Target:
Raven
Player LVL 198
HP: -

Hmm. So he could still see names and levels so long as he targeted them, but as per effect, he still couldn't see HP. He also eyed her level warily.

~ 0 ~

Raven turned away from the three on the floor as they disappeared, and she smirked.
"You're welcome."
She looked over at Jaune, seeing him staring at her. She tilted her head and then smirked under her mask.

"Thanks. I appreciate it, though, I could have taken them no problem myself. So."

She was cut off suddenly when Jaune spoke again. "For the equipment as well. I did kill them, but you can have it."

She paused, feeling a spike of anger. Was he really going to try to get something out of her? On her turf! She moved closer to him, her arms folding across her waist, her right hand drifting closer to her sword hilt. "Oh. You'll just let me have it?"

He shrugged and started walking away. "Yeah, it doesn't matter to me." She followed him with her eyes as he left. Huh. She didn't expect that. While she watched him go, a thought crossed her mind. "What had they wanted from him?"
She looked at his armor. She could tell it was shot, and his sword didn't look too good either. It had to be an item. Maybe a secret boss with a rare drop if all of his equipment was broken. She licked her lips and reached to draw her sword when he stopped and turned to face her.

"Hey. Do you know the way to town?" He hoped this worked. "I'm from Vacuo, and I was in Atlas before this. I don't know how to get to Vale." Or at least he was sure that was the name of the place he and Ruby had been aiming for.

"Yeah, I know how to get to town." She stood there watching him quietly for a second when she pulled her mask off, clipping it to her belt. He could see her face now, and his eyes widened.

She looked just like Yang. It was kinda shocking, but then again, the odds of it being her were slim to none. The character customization in this was expansive. It was entirely possible someone just so happened to make their avatar look like Yang, especially with how pretty she was. She looked like a supermodel and not anorexic ones.

Shaking his head, he looked her in the eyes. They were sparkling, and he saw the corners of her mouth tug up a bit. "What? Am I so pretty you're at a loss for words?" Her head tilted, and she looked down to her feet and then back at him from under her eyelashes. "I used the games personalized modeling system for my avatar." She flipped her whiled raven tresses and smiled smugly. "This is what I look like IRL."

He blushed and turned away. This wouldn't be the first time a pretty girl tried to get something from him with their looks. He stepped back as he turned back to look at her, and she frowned. "Well, that's rude." She said, letting her hands drop. He made a noncommittal sound, and she stepped back as well, folding her arms across her chest.
"So."
He let out a small breath at the one word she uttered. He really just wanted to get to town and spend some time fixing his stuff before Sun got on, but that one word told him it wasn't an offer to lead him there. He let out a sigh as she continued. "What were they trying to take from you that you tore them apart like that?"

He debated whether or not he should tell her but figured with her level and the rarity of the item it wasn't a good idea. "None of your business."

He turned around, figuring he'd find the way himself when she laughed coming up, getting even with him, and tilted her head while gazing at him. "Towns not that way."
He stopped, taking a deep breath and turned the other way, but she made an 'uh un' noise. "Town isn't that way either."
He let out a small growl, and she smirked. "I could take you to town, buuuuut."

He exhaled heavily and turned to face her. "But what?"

She pulled her hair over her shoulder, running her hands through it with an aloof expression. His eye twitched. "Well. We could come to an agreement. Let's say. That item you have that they wanted." He couldn't believe it. She was trying to extort him even after she'd taken the gear and items from the people he killed!

Ugh, this was not how he expected his first login to go. He rubbed his temples in frustration. Thinking on it, she wasn't actually trying to kill him, and he didn't have to tell her what the item was did he, he did say he had a metric fuckton himself anyways.
Looking at the clock on his HUD, he saw it was already almost 12:00. He needed to get his stuff fixed and get something to eat and drink for his character before Sun got on. To do that, he needed to get to town.
With a sharp exhale, he held his hand out to her. "Fine. But you have to get me there in an hour."

She threw her hair back over her shoulder, giving him a smug smile while taking his hand. "Of course. Nice doing business with you."

~ 0 ~

~ .hack/roots O.S.T. Young knight and Priestess ~

"Well, here we are," Raven said while leaning against the wall of a tavern just inside the city gates. She watched Jaune as he stepped forward, looking up in amazement at the buildings lining the road. They were large and ornate with about three floors, some more. A few had balconies and ropes with colorful flags hanging between them.

He continued walking into the town with Raven pushing off the wall following him as he turned around, taking in everything with a grin on his face. "Wow," He said breathlessly. The cobbled stone road under his boots made a clack with every step he took, and he could see people sitting in the buildings talking, drinking, arm wrestling, and gambling.
His eyes fell on the edge of the road where a large fountain and plaza sat.

He ran up to it with wide eyes and walked around it, admiring the graphics. Then he spun around and gasped. He ran over to the rail where a few benches and some couples were sitting enjoying the view. He hit the railing and awed at the view himself.
The fountain was resting on an overhang that looked out over the enormous city. He could see different districts with different styles of buildings and statues taller than the buildings.

Off in the distance, he could see the palace with a giant clock tower that reached high above the city walls. Built into it was a beacon constantly turning with a light that he was sure let adventurers in the field know where the town was at night. He turned to look to his left, seeing a large zigzagging walkaway that lead further into the city with the kingdoms flags lining it. People were crowding the walkaway and jumping around, in some cases, probably talking about their adventures and loot.
Over to his right was a stairway that winded along the cliffside and branched off into directions he couldn't even see due to the vast size of the city and the buildings. Much like the other side, it was lively with traffic.

The city was huge, and everything was to scale. Sun was right. It looked like more and more people just kept logging in. He doubted there was ever a dull moment in the city. It was…fantastical. He looked out over the city again, noting it looked to be built around a large crater-like structure with buildings and roads being constructed along its levels with the main section being the center where it was flat. There he could see large pillars with an even larger fountain of monolithic scope and size. Around it was shops and markets with the cathedral situated opposite him a short distance away from the fountain with a white marble pathway leading to it. The most awe-inspiring part was the waterfalls falling into the city, filling the massive waterways he could see, with players swimming or using gondolas to get around if not the bridges.

~ song end ~

"Amazing," he whispered in awe at the city.

Someone walked up next to him. He turned to see the woman who'd led him here looking out over the city with a warm expression, a smile on her lips as the wind blew her hair behind her. She reached up, putting a few loose strands behind her ear. "It is, isn't it?"

He stood there, leaning against the railing while watching her. He had to admit he had a thing for Yang, and this woman looked just like her. It was easy to get lost while watching her. The bright blue sky and happy atmosphere just added to the calm serenity of the moment. He smiled and looked back out over the town folding his arms and resting them on the railing. "Not as amazing as some things."

Raven chuckled, and he glanced at her seeing an amused expression on her face. She lifted an eyebrow at him smirking the same way Yang did as she turned to lean her hips against the railing. "You trying to flirt with me?"

"Uh." He flushed and looked away, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Would you believe me if I said no?"

There was a loud barking laugh that funnily enough sounded rather nice to him. He looked at her again, his flush dying down as she wiped a tear from her eyes. "Sorry, I don't date bots." She said loudly.

His eyes widened, and he stood up straight, putting a hand on his waist, turning to face her. "Hey, I told you I'm not an NPC."

She put her arms down on the rail, still smirking at him. "I don't know if I believe that. Bots are pretty human-like these days. What with A.I. and everything."

He sighed and sagged down to the bench behind him, putting an elbow on his knee, letting his head drop into his hand as he looked out over the city with an annoyed expression. "Whatever."

She laughed at him again and then turned around sitting next to him while looking at him expectantly. He glanced at her watching her for a second. "What?" She narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to him. He leaned away from her as she got closer to his face. "Uh Raven?" he said, taking a sharp breath and holding it.

She jabbed his chest. "Wheres my item?"

He deflated instantly, his shoulder relaxing as he let out a nervous smile. "Oh, right. Um…" He trailed off, and her look intensified to a glare. She did not look happy. He scooted away only for her to grab him by the collar and smile at him with the sweetest smile he'd ever seen. He was sure he'd get cavities just staring.

Her grip tightened on his clothes, and she pulled Jaune nose to nose with her. He could see the fire burning in her eyes, and he gulped. "You wouldn't happen to have been lying to me now, would you?" He shook his head, and she smiled even brighter making his stomach drop. "Good. Now, where is it?"

He looked around and nervously scratched his nose. "Um. We should probably find an ally or a private spot."

She blinked at him and then grinned as she punched his gut, making him double over and fall off the bench. "Perv." She said, looking down at him while rolling him onto his back.

He groaned, making her roll his eyes. "Really, you can't handle the game's pain multiplier?"

Jaune grit his teeth. This bitch. He couldn't believe he'd found her attractive. Then there were the effects of the pendant. This was some bullshit. He pushed her leg away and rolled onto his hands and feet, pushing himself up. He glared at her while rubbing his gut. "No, it's a special item. Don't want anyone else seeing it."

At those words, Raven stilled. She stood up, watching him carefully and nodded. "Alright. Come on, follow me."

~ 0 ~

"So really. What do you have that you had to drag me to this alley to give me?" Raven said, swinging her legs back and forth from her perch atop a stack of crates.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Hey, you dragged me back here," He retorted to which she shrugged. He sighed and opened his inventory to which Raven hummed.

"Guess you aren't an NPC. They don't have inventories like us."

Jaune gave her a deadpan stare. "That's what I said twice already," He griped, looking up at her. Her kimono was short enough that he almost saw up it, but she smirked down at him and kicked his face making him stumble back, working his jaw, "Stop hitting me!"

She shrugged. "Stop trying to be a pervert."

He opened his mouth to retort but closed it thinking better and just shook his head. "Whatever." He scrolled through his inventory to the bottom of his items and pulled a Solid Dust Crystal out of the stack of 22, leaving him with an inventory of a 10x20 with 110 spaces filled with stacks of 99 of them and one stack of 21 with one last spot filled with 73 elixirs. Yes, 73. That's why he was broke after five weeks of grinding and was still broke when he logged in six months later.

He held the Crystal In his hand hidden by his inventory screen and then closed it. The blue glow from it caught Raven's attention immediately, making her eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"

"Catch." He said, tossing it over her head.

She jumped for it and fell off her tower of crates catching it as she hit the ground with a crash. She looked at it with wide eyes and an even wider grin. She hit examine and sure enough. "Solid Dust Crystal." No way. She stood up, looking down at it like it was the holy grail. She quickly put it in her inventory. "Hey, where did you get it? I thought they were…" She trailed off as she turned around and looked up only to see the guy was gone.

She stood there with a dumbfounded look on her face. Had she been that distracted that she hadn't noticed him go? She opened her inventory and looked at the item as it sat in there. She grinned, closing her inventory again. "There's no way he knows what he just gave up. Otherwise, he wouldn't have parted with it like that."
She dashed to the main road and looked around for him. She couldn't see him up or down the road, so she ran to the railing and looked out over the crowds sprawling across the walkways.

A ways down, she spotted his mop of blond hair and his broken equipment. It was easy to spot him because funnily enough, he was the only blonde in a sea of crazy colors. Her grin widened, and she jumped over the rail landing on the pathway he was on. The crowd was too thick for her to reach him, but it looked like he was headed for the cathedral.
With a confident smirk, she headed for a side ally that should let her get there sooner than wading through this mess.

~ 0 ~

~ .hack/Roots O.S.T. Friendly like in a childhood ~

Jaune took a deep breath as he walked through the city's main market place situated around the giant fountain. Off to his left, he saw an auction house and made his way over to it. This was gonna be where he finally found out how much the crystals were worth. They were always good at finding the actual price and value of items in-game. He walked into the building just as Raven walked out of an ally, head moving side to side, trying to find him. She asked a few people if they'd seen him and gave a description.

Someone eventually pointed her to the auction house, and she made her way inside. Just as she walked into the building, however, Jaune was led into a side room situated right next to the entrance by an appraiser. View of the room was blocked by the very door Raven opened. She tried to ask one of the players working there about a person named Crocea Mors, but they told her to wait until she got to the front of the line. She huffed and waited.

Just when she got to the front, Jaune left the room he'd been taken into and thanked the appraiser before leaving. Raven's view of the entrance was blocked due to the line of people behind her that weren't exactly forming a line.

She was getting ready to pull her hair out when she was told he'd left about ten minutes ago and had been arguing with someone about him for just as long. "RAGHHH! She screamed as she left the auction house. Several people looked at her while others hurried by or straight-up turned around, noping the fuck outta there.

"Where is Crocea Mors!" She shouted at the sky, making some birds by the fountain fly away.

~ Song end ~

~ 0 ~

Jaune sighed as he looked at his equipment on the counter of the armor and tailor shop he'd entered called Emerald Dragon. Across from him on the other side of the counter stood a rather quiet woman. She had long dark pink hair tied up in a bun with her bangs hanging down and matching pink eyes. She wore a green Chines styled dress that went down to her ankles. She smiled at him with one of those I'm sorry looks. "No, we don't accept trades here. I'm sorry."

"Please. I know you said money, but I don't have any. All players can trade, and I have something worth lots of money, won't you please fix my stuff for me. I'm begging you." He said, leaning on the counter with his hands. His eyes wide and pleading.

The woman named An lifted a hand to her mouth, looking off to the side nervously. "I'm sorry, the answer is no. We don't deal with the auction house after what happened when the in-game economy crashed because of an influx of high-value items during a special quest. We lost so much money we're barely able to pay rent anymore. We might lose our shop to our competitors in the market now."
She frowned sadly while looking up behind him at something.

He turned to see a large ornate crest that looked rather familiar. "You know we've only been playing this game for a few months now, but we've found a nice place in it, and this shop is our pride and joy. Our Son is off at college, and we don't have much to do what with our jobs being low work high return."
He turned back to look at her, and she sighed. "This game is one of the few where there are no microtransactions at all. You have to work for what you want. You must work hard and diligently and pay attention to the economy and skills just like in real life, but this world is so much more than the real world. It's magical."

She looked back at Jaune and smiled warmly. "My husband and I have put so much into this place while our real lives are rather boring and empty right now. We can't make exceptions that would put this in jeopardy. Please understand." She said, bowing before she turned to organize the shelves behind her.

Well damn. Either she was a great saleswoman IRL, or he'd just heard someone on an online game bare their heart out. He sighed and looked back at the crest on the wall. Something clicked in his head, and his eyes widened. "Hey."

The woman turned around and looked up at Jaune, who had put all of his gear back on. "Is your son Lei Ren by any chance?"

She looked at him, stunned, and blinked a few times. "Umm." She trailed off. She didn't wanna give out personal information online, and so she stayed quiet.

The young man in front of her reached up and placed something on the counter. He looked back at her and smiled warmly. "Call this a thank you for raising such a great kid. He's been a really good friend to me despite some things that have happened."

With that, he turned and left the shop. She blinked a couple of times and then looked down at the item on the counter. Her eyes widened. "Li!"

~ 0 ~

"Well, I hope that's enough to get them out of financial trouble." Jaune fingered the cracks and dents on his armor as he looked at the sign on the front of the shop. It was funny to think he'd meet Ren's parents in a game like this before ever meeting them IRL. He shook his head and chuckled. "Well, I guess I'll just wait for the one I put up for auction to sell before I try and get my stuff repaired." They were the best-rated shop in town, according to the appraiser.

With that, he turned to the cathedral and took a deep breath looking up at the monolithic structure in front of the fountain. "Well, might as well see if I can level up this pendant with my stored exp.

He made his way across the market, gently moving his way through the crowd. As he drew closer to the cathedral, everyone around him grew quieter, and the games BGM went silent. He was standing at the foot of the white marble pathway now, and he looked up at the ornate statues and benches lining it with the lush green hills running up alongside it on either side.

There were players just sitting around looking through their inventories or lying in the grass, enjoying the calming aura and nice breeze. He took one step forward onto the white marble, and suddenly all noise from the market died, the air filling with the soft sound of a music box.

~ Elfin Lied Lilium - music box ~

He felt strange. Light. The hunger and thirst from his character's debuffs were gone. Or being nullified. He felt serene, in a word. He could understand why there were people just lying in the grass a lot better now. It was calming, to say the least, like all of his worries, were being washed away. Only there was an underlying sadness to it.

He closed his eyes, taking slow, steady breaths. Then he looked up and started making his way to the huge brass doors. With every step he took, the music grew louder, and he felt more at ease. But he also felt a weight around his neck and something pressing down on his chest. It was uncomfortable and got more intense the closer he got.

By the time he reached the doors, he was having to take deep breaths just to stop from feeling light-headed. He touched them, and they slowly swung open without a sound. Inside the cathedral, there were players sitting in the pews leading up the middle to an elevated podium where a priest was preaching something he couldn't hear. Off to the left was a small music box on a pedestal. Was that what was making the music. All the way out there? He couldn't believe it, but then again, it was a game.

He turned to his right and saw what he assumed was the Ether of Naught. He made his way over to the object. It was strange, to say the least. It looked like a sphere of amber liquid that floated there above the altar. It moved as if it were alive, and it seemed to have a golden band within it that spun around what looked like a book or a tome. It was completely different from what he expected.

Looking around, he saw that no one was waiting behind him to use it, so he moved over to it and tried targeting it. Nothing happened. He grabbed his chest, feeling the weight growing even more, and his fingers found the pendant. Suddenly the sphere shifted, and he took a step back. Letting go of the pendant.

Someone behind him snickered, and he turned to see who, but it could have been anyone. Turning back to the Ether of Naught, he pulled up the help menu to see what he was doing wrong, but all it said was to target the Ether. He could feel it getting harder to breathe every second he was in here. He wanted to hurry up and get this over with, but.

He frowned and reached for his pendant again. The Ether shifted, and the inside seemed to swirl around. He shook his head. This was a game for crying out loud. Why was he so nervous? With a swallow, he clutched the pendant tightly, and the Ether began to writhe. A high pitched ringing noise filled his ears, making him feel faint.

He stumbled forwards closing his eyes, but he felt several sharp pains, and something stopped him. He looked up, hand still clutching the pendant, and his eyes widened. A dribble of blood fell down his chin, and several splats hit the floor. He looked down at himself, seeing several amber spikes coming from the Ether stabbing him in several places. One in his left shoulder. One in his right arm. One in his chest right next to the pendant. One in his gut. One in his left thigh and one in his left foot.

The thing had pierced through what remained of his armor and…it hurt.

His vision blurred, and he coughed. Blood splattered on the altar, and the Ether writhed again, forcing the spikes all the way through his body, the ringing getting louder. His only solace was the melody of the music box.

He could feel his blood dripping to the floor, and his body felt weak. Only NPCs and monsters were supposed to bleed. The pain multiplier in the game wasn't supposed to be this high. It hurt. It hurt really bad. He thought he heard someone scream, and footsteps moving closer as he slumped against the altar. Then...Black.

~ 0 ~

~ Elfin Lied Lilium - Latin ~

"Hmm." Jaune was lying on the floor. He felt something wet, but it wasn't warm. It was cold. He winced, and his eyes opened slowly. He pushed himself up off the floor, holding his head, noticing that the floor was covered in water. "What?" He could see his breath in the air in front of him. He wasn't cold in a sense he was shivering, but his insides felt cold, almost like. He couldn't really describe it. He felt empty. Like there was ice where his organs should be.

He pushed himself to his feet, and it was then he noticed he was sitting in the middle of some long narrow hallway made of stone. He turned around in place to take it all in. The hall stretched on forever. He couldn't see the ends. It was also then he noticed the haunting song filling the air. He couldn't make out the words, but It felt so sad. He stumbled to the wall behind him and looked at the wall across from him. It was a mural. It depicted a naked woman with pale skin and snow-white hair holding a skeleton as a single tear ran down her solemn face with golden vines growing up around the two.

He pushed off his wall and moved forward to touch it, but lamps hanging from the ceiling went out, and the hall was cloaked in darkness save for a strange ethereal blue light coming from the mural. He stepped back, but his boots sloshed through the water. He looked down. The water. It was rising! He started to panic. What the hell was this? It all felt too real. Had he fallen asleep while playing the game and just dreaming?

He turned to his right and tried taking a step, but his foot sank into the dark water going deeper than it should have. He tried to pull it up, but it wouldn't come out all the way. He tried moving his other foot, but that one sank as soon as he tried placing it down again as well. The water was rising rapidly now, and he felt scared he could feel tears starting to fall from his eyes as he was pulled further into the depths.
Soon the water was above his head, and even his hands couldn't break the surface. He tried pulling up his HUD to log out, but nothing came up.

He looked up at the glowing mural from under the water, and he reached for it. His hands clawed at the wall. He banged against it, pulling, scratching anything. He felt his lungs burning, and he closed his eyes as a weightlessness feeling came over him.

The burning in his lungs stopped, and he felt a strange calm. He didn't splutter for breath. His body didn't ache. He didn't even feel cold anymore. He opened his eyes. He wasn't underwater anymore. He looked up at the ceiling above him and blinked. He could hear it now. The words to the song. Sitting up, he saw a person, a young woman sitting in the middle of the room he was in. He looked around, seeing no doors or windows and slowly got up.
He should be feeling freaked out right now, but for some reason, he just felt…calm.

He slowly walked over to the girl. She was facing away from him and looking up at the ceiling at a single stream of silvery light that bathed her. She was singing the song he'd been hearing.

"Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam
Et linguua eius loquetur iudicim

Beatus vir qui suffert tentaitonem
Quonim cum probatus fuerit accipiet coronam vitae

Kyrie, fons bonitatis
Kyrie, Ignis Divine, Eleison

O quam sancta, quam serena, quam benigna
Quam amoena esse virgo creditur

O quam sancta quam serena, quam benigna
Quam amoena O castitatis lilium."

The song ended, and he felt something fall down his cheek. He reached up and pulled his hand away, looking at the tear on his fingers. Was...he crying? He let his hand drop and looked up to see the girl now facing him.

Her snow-white hair was a bright contrast to the dark room around them. And her eyes. Those dull, sad, crimson eyes. She was crying. The young woman took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting her head drop.

"Have you come to hurt me as well?"

Jaune stood there, stunned. "What?"

She looked back up at him with a heartbreaking expression. "The others. The heroes. Have you come to take my power just as they have?"

He had no idea what she was talking about. He didn't even know what was going on. "I…" He paused. He really didn't know what to say. He looked down at the floor. Was he here to take her power? To level up at the Ether of Naught to buy skills, abilities, and spells?

But then there was the pendant. It stopped him from buying any of those things. Then there was the class it gave him as well. False Hero, it had said. He looked up at the girl. "I don't know."

She smiled at him, weakly and shifted. It was then he heard the rattle of chains, and she winced, reaching down to her left ankle. He followed her motion and saw it. A chain and manacle were chaining her to the floor. He frowned at that. What the hell was this? Was it even part of the game?

He moved closer to try and help her, but her eyes widened, and she flinched, moving back across the floor as far as she could to get from him. He felt hurt that she'd do that, but then again, could he fault her? She was chained to the floor. In a dark room with no windows and the only source of light was a hole in the ceiling. This was a prison or a tomb.
The girl was still trying to get as far away from him as possible, her chained leg outstretched to put even the smallest amount of distance between them. He frowned and stepped back. She seemed to relax slightly at his action. "Why? Why do you not come and claim what is mine?" She frowned at him. "I can sense it. You have taken from me before." She watched him warily. "And yet. I can feel none of my power within you."

Jaune opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, offering her a shrug. "I really don't know."

She eyed him with those dull eyes, and then they drifted to his sword. "You are the first to come to seek me in person. All the others simply pray to the guardian, and It siphons my power, funneling it to them. So why? Why have you come to me? A lonely crying girl in a prison she knows not why she rots in."

A notification popped up in front of Jaune's face

Secret quest: "What little remains."
Objective: Find the girl who cries.
Complete
Reward: Loyalty of the girl who cries

Secret quest unlocked: "Fight or flight."
Objective" Rescue the girl who cries.
Failure: The girl dies
Reward:?

He stared at the message as the same music box from before began to play.

"It comes."

Jaune closed the notification, but his HUD still wouldn't come up. He looked at the girl, and she had a small, sad smile on her face. "It seems our conversation is over."

He felt his stomach drop. This girl was going to die if he didn't save her? What the hell was going on? There was no way this was part of the game. He quickly moved over to her sliding to one of his knees and grabbed the chain pulling at it, but it wouldn't budge. He gripped so tightly he felt his hands start to bleed under his cloves. He winced. How? Why?

He gave one final tug as the music started to become distorted, and he fell back on his rear. "No. No, no, no, no, no. I'm getting you out of here." He moved forward and grabbed the chain again, but a soft slender hand rested over his. He looked to his side to see the girl smiling at him sadly.

"Please. Stop. It does not matter if you save me or not. I will still be here. I cannot die. Not in the way you do. He felt his hands loosen on the chain, and it clattered to the stone floor.

He looked at her, shocked. "But you can't just give up!" He shouted. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "That thing will kill you, it…." He trailed off, reaching for his chest. "It killed me." His eyes widened, and he felt a cold hand grip his heart. He looked at the girl with a horrified expression. What would it do to her?

She was smiling at him with a happy expression, but he could see the tears streaming down her face. She put a hand on his cheek, and her smile broke. "I'm scared."

She started sobbing, and the room around them grew darker. The music box became so distorted it sounded like static now, and the air behind the girl warped. He could see the same amber substance the Ether of Naught was made of forming in the air behind her.

His eyes widened, and the girl's expression became one of terror. She turned to try and see what was behind her, but Jaune grabbed her and pulled her close to him. He held her tight as the guardian formed. She gripped his back tightly and buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

He looked up at the guardian feeling his legs give. The memory of the pain when it stabbed him, terrified him. Fight or flee? What the hell was the quest talking about? Or had it meant to fight and save her or flee and fail? He squeezed the girl tightly, feeling weaker than he ever had before. He focused on the guardian and tried to target it.

Target:
Carnage
Book 1 lvl 99
HP: -

It was more than twenty levels higher than him. He clenched his teeth and grabbed the girl's arms, pulling them away before pushing her behind him. She yelped and grabbed his shoulders as he pulled out his sword and shield.
He had no idea if he'd be able to kill it. Thanks to the pendant, he couldn't see it's hp or how much damage he was dealing to it. Looking over his shoulder, he gave the best confidant grin he could muster and gave the girl a thumbs up. "We're going to get you out of here. Okay?"
The girl looked up at him with a stunned face.
He turned away from her and readied his weapons. "Cheer for me. Alright?"

The girl put her hands on his back and leaned against him, nodding. "My champion." She whispered.

"What the fuck am I gonna do," Jaune shouted in his head. He just told her he was going to get her out of here, which entailed killing this thing whatever the hell it was. The only problem was he had no idea how to, and if he remembered right, it could attack multiple times with those spikes, and it only needed six hits to kill him. "Son of a bitch. Sorry, mom. I should have fixed my equipment while I was outside. God fucking damn it!"

"Okay, that's enough." He slapped himself mentally. He had to remain calm and think. If things were still the same as the beta as far as monsters and their levels went, then it got 1000 hp for every level. It being level 99 meant it had at least 99,000 HP. If it was a tank or a boss, then it would be double that. Considering this was some kind of crazy scripted event, if it was even that, meant it was most likely a boss. So 198,000 hp.

He focused on the Guardian or Carnage, as the target box said. It used spikes to kill him, which meant it wasn't a magic type of monster, so he could probably rule out spells and self-healing. However, it had a gelatinous or liquid body, so it probably took 50% less damage from physical attacks but took double from magic, which didn't help him at all.

"Physical and Magical ATK weren't affected by modifiers so long as the enemy wasn't immune to them you'd do that minimum based on your level, so 900 with my sword and shield. Almost 1,000 right off the bat."

He looked down at his armor and weapons, seeing the cracks and chips in them and frowned. "My equipment is broken too, so the effectiveness of my weapons gets dropped by a wapping 50%, meaning around 400 for my shield and 600 for my sword." He looked up at Carnage and grimaced. "Because of its body type, I'm sure it's halved again so In short 200 and 300, respectively."

"My magic is at about 650. but I've only got the one skill with a magic attack in it. So it'll be my heavy hitter if I can manage to get it out. Regardless that brings my physical damage up to 1300 with my sword and 1100 with my shield." He felt his stomach drop. Those numbers were doable with a healer to back him up; it would just take a while to whittle down. He grimaced as Carnage shifted, getting bigger as the rest of its body finished forming. Well, as the saying goes, 'no love no luck.'

"Come on Jaune, think what did the pendant do for you!?" Carnage looked just about complete, so he stepped forward to put distance between it and the girl by using his body as a barrier.

If he remembered right, and he was being rough about it, then he got 50 % boosts to skills and magic as well as dealing 100% extra damage. It did mean he took 100% extra damage in turn, but he already knew he died after six hits.
That being said if he hated himself his normal attacks did about 2500 damage and his strongest ability would be Eternal Refrain stacking In at about

Around 7400 damage.
So if he broke it down and this was hoping his math was right, he was looking at 28 hits with Eternal Refrain or 80 hits with his normal attacks. Neither seemed feasible considering he only had the SP to use Eternal Refrain four times before he was looking at a 4-minute recharge to use it one time, and he wasn't sure he could dodge forever.

The high pitched static sound suddenly died, and the room went deathly silent save for the sound of liquid moving as if from underwater. He tightened his grip on his sword and stared at Carnage. It just floated there. "What's it doing?" As soon as he spoke, a thin spike of that stuff shot out at him. He raised his shield hiding behind, but when it hit, he barely felt it.

He opened his eyes, and right in front of them was the things appendage sticking through his shield. He followed it down into the ground behind him and saw that it had nearly stabbed the girl. She was on the ground, shaking and staring at the spike that had broken the stone right next to her leg. Something in him snapped.

"RAHHHHHHH!" He left his shield speared by the thing and dashed out from behind it, running up the middle. Several more of the spikes shot out at him, one stabbing right next to him, breaking his left pauldron off. The other clipped his side, drawing blood and tearing one of the straps that held his breastplate together.
He went with the hit and spun around just as another spike launched for him hitting right where he'd just been.

He slashed out with his sword following the spin and hitting Carnage. It let out a gurgling roar and flew back, shooting another spike at him while retracting the others. He slid to the floor and moving into a roll, jumping off the ground towards the wall behind it as he slashed underneath it.

It moved away again, but he kicked off the wall slashing at it once more. He connected with another hit and kicked the thing just as several spikes shot out at him. He made himself as small a target as possible and dodged two, but the third stabbed his left shoulder piercing all the way through him. He coughed up some blood and glared at the thing while he was speared on it,

his left hand wrapping around the spike in his shoulder.

It started bubbling again, and his eyes widened. He glared and bared his teeth, stabbing his sword into the thing hitting the ring at its center, and it let out a horrendous high pitched noise, like the one from the cathedral. It convulsed, and the spikes retracted, letting him drop to the floor quickly, followed by the monster.

It writhed on the ground with spikes randomly shooting out of it only nowhere near as long as before. Jaune glared at the thing staggering to his feet using his sword. He rushed it without a seconds delay, "Crescendo Spike!" He slashed down on Carnage twice, making It fold in on itself. The center of it bubbled, and all six spikes shot out at him in different directions as he dodged back for the rising slash. Only two of the spikes hit him. One tore into his chest, stabbing through his breastplate and out the back tearing the other strap in the process. The other stabbed his foot. He wanted to cry out, but he kept powering through as the combo attack finished. He pushed himself further on the spikes making his chest explode in pain. His eyes were watering, and he felt light-headed as he slashed the thing up into the air.
It's spikes still stabbed into him. His body was angled back as it flew into the air.

It shot another spike at him as he reared up his stab, and the two met in the middle. There was a transparent blue octagon that shone between the contact point of the two attacks when the game's narrator shouted.

"KNOCK BACK!"

The things spikes instantly retracted, and his stab completed going deep into the monster hitting the thing at the center of the ring this time before the knockback effect occurred. Carnage, went flying, crashing into the ceiling, and then It fell to the ground in a heap, making an ear-splitting racket like metal grinding and twisting.

"Shut up!" Jaune grabbed his head while trying to say upright. He felt stiff like something wasn't working right, and his chest felt wrong and the blood. It was everywhere. He felt sick and spit up a mouth full of the red, coppery-rust-flavored fluid staggering towards Carnage. He only had two hits left, and he was gone. But God, why didn't it shut up! He just wanted it to stop.

He lifted his sword and slashed down at the thing. It writhed, but there was no more of the bubbling as it let out a blood-curdling scream. He roared and lifted his sword, bringing it down again and again and again. Each time the creature wined and let out a scream as it dragged itself across the floor. "Just! Shut! Up!" He was feeling really weird, and the noise wasn't helping. He'd lost feeling in his left arm, and his foot was numb. Every time he brought his sword up, his side burned something awful as well.

Suddenly a spike shot out of the creature. Only it wasn't aimed at him. There was a scream as it shot out at the girl, and she curled in on herself, huddling on the ground. It struck her hard. Her body going flying until the chai on her leg stopped her from moving any further. Jaune's eyes were wide as Carnage let out a sound that was a mesh of what sounded like static over a radio and maniacal laughter.

Jaune's eyes widened in horror, and he looked down at Carnage, his eyes flashing red. He stomped on the monster as hard as he could while lifting his blade, thrusting it down and stabbing the ring in the middle pushing his whole body down on it. "You bastard!" The thing retracted its spike, and he roared in anger pulling his sword out, continuing his yell in a monstrous tone. "Diminuendo Dive!"

He Stabbed the thing hard piercing into the golden ring inside of it again, and it screeched louder than ever, but he ignored it. He wanted it dead! He couldn't understand why he was feeling pain like this or why he was bleeding, why he was losing feeling or function of his limbs. He didn't even know what the hell was going on, but this thing had to die.

He twisted the blade in it as it writhed and convulsed, it's spikes shooting out randomly several hitting his armor, breaking it further or tearing his coat. His left arm tried to raise itself and grip the handle as he crouched, moving into the rising slash but only his fingers twitched and then went limp as he pushed off the ground sending the monster up into the air following it as he spun around and stabbed down at it with a furious yell Just as a spike shot up hitting Jaune in the stomach.

There was an animation of cracking glass, and the games young narrator voice shouted once more, but it came out distorted accompanied by a crackling and static sound.
"A- A-ARMOR-OR BR-BREAK-KK!"
There was an explosion as something happened. Something went wrong.

"Oh, my head." Jaune tried to push himself up, but his left arm wouldn't move. He clenched his teeth, feeling the uncomfortable stabbing numbness run along his shoulder, making his neck hurt. He pulled his right arm under him and pushed up, but his hand slipped in something, and he hit the ground again.

He took a deep breath smelling rust as warmth spread across his cheek. He opened his eyes and saw blood all over the floor. He looked at it in confusion, sliding his hand up, gripping at it weakly. His cracked gauntlet scraped at the floor, getting covered in it. He brought it in front of his face and then coughed. Spatters of blood now covered his glove.

"Oh yeah. It's mine." He said deliriously. Just then, something shifted, and his gaze moved to see what was left of Carnage. He couldn't see it completely, but the sound told him. It wasn't dead. He didn't expect it to be honestly. He'd barely done anything to it. Maybe 1/8th of its health if he was lucky.

He managed to turn on his bad arm with a grunt and pulled himself over to the twitching mass. His eyes narrowed in confusion, seeing it. It was the book. The book that had been inside whatever the substance had been. It was lying open, and the pages were moving as if the broken wings of a bird. The golden ring around it had been broken, and the gelatinous mass was now a formless goop on the floor.

He let out a chuckle seeing it. Had it really been a book all this time? Was Carnage just a tome possessed by something? He closed his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. "Damn it, I can barely move and yet. So close."

There was a loud thunk, and he opened his eyes, seeing his sword now completely broken in half stabbing into the middle of the book's creases. His gaze turned up, seeing the girl. She was standing over the book with a determined expression, and then she turned her gaze to him. She quickly slid down next to him and turned him on his back, pulling his head onto her lap.

"Hey." He said quietly. He could barely think anymore. He was sure he'd seen her get stabbed. Was he hallucinating? He felt the weight on his chest again and reached up with his right hand gripping the pendant. And a notification popped up.

Secret quest: "Fight or flight."
Complete
Reward: Spirit of Carnage

The notification closed on its own, and Jaune blinked. He could hear a muffled voice, but he couldn't make out what was being said at all. He just smiled up at the girl above him as his vision started going dark.
The last thing he remembered was a soft hand resting over his and another notification.

Pendant of the Unblessed
Level 2
EXP 0/100

~ 0 ~

Authors notes.

To the guest who asked if this is gonna be a dot hack crossover. No, no, it won't.
Data drain will be a thing but not the way it is in the .hack series. I am not writing a crossover with this story, but I am taking heavily from properties such as .hack, Horizon online, SAO, and others to make a world similar to those found in those properties.
I have also mentioned parts and things from those stories without directly naming them except for the ALTIMATE company from .hack/IMOQ series

But as for your "do you know Cinder?" thing, that was gold.

~ 0 ~

For anyone who thinks the pendant will make him OP, I have this to say.

His pendant severely limits him in skills and such as well as there being other people just as, and more skilled than he is. This is a game, and he will die, he will lose in between winning. You can't win em all.

There are also other people with similar pendants as well.

~ 0 ~

Character name: Crocea Morse

Level: 75

EXP: 16,008,240

Next level: 33,585

Nationality: Vacuo

Affiliation: Arc Trading, Vacuo, Fifth kingdom

Title: Unblessed
When not in a party, or if debuffs are active, gain 100% recovery rate to SP, AP, MP.

Trait: False Hero
Grants access to no cost combos and increases effectiveness of traits without increasing trait level.
(More combos, skills, abilities and spells unlocked at higher levels)

Class:
False Hero (?)
Knight (Tank)
Secondary Class: Adept rouge (Master of arts)

~ 0 ~

Ailments

Bleeding out:
Stabbed in a vital spot causing blood loss.
Causes delirium and numbness. Character durability constantly drops by 50 per sec
(Must be healed by a Priest/ Priestes in cathedral or with Elixir)

Critical wound:
Waited 24 hours after death for character recovery instead of respawning.
Causes constant pain and lowers physical defense by 45%, stops Character durability from recovering.
[Retain EXP upon getting up]
(Must be healed by a Priest/Priestes in cathedral or with Elixir)

Broken:
Character durability is at 0.
Causes all attacks upon character to be critical.
(Cannot be healed with Esuna, Requires Elixir or Performance Booster)

Debilitation

Exhaustion:
No sleep for more than 24 hrs
Causes player to feel tired and out of breath after a combos
(Must sleep in a bed for minimum of 8 hours to cure)

Thirsts:
No water drunk for over 24 hrs
Causes player to feel thirsty and light headed after combos
(Must drink a bottle of refreshing water or holy water)

Hunger:
No food eaten for over 24 hrs
Causes player to feel hungry and sleepy after combos
(Must eat a good meal or gourmet meal)

Armor Break:
Equipment durability at 0.
Causes direct damage to health.
(Must repair armor. Broken armor cannot be unequipped unless in town)

~ 0 ~

Accessories:

Necklace: Pendant of the Unblessed
Level 2
EXP 0/100

Effects:
Survival mode
(Character must eat and sleep regularly or debuffs will incur)
(Character habits change based on player habits)
(Debuffs and buffs will change based on habits)
Makes player's and players screen names and levels invisible.
Turns off damage counter for player.
Turns off HP bars for all targets.
Turns off party invite system for player.
(Can only be invited to parties)
Turns off Mentor system.
(Cannot be a mentor or be mentored)
Turns off respawn.
(Must wait 6 hours to get up or be revived by an ally)
Turns off instant messaging outside of towns and cities.
Turns off private chat.
Turns off stats and gear menus in the field.
Increases effectiveness of true damage by 50%.
Increases effectiveness of Skills by 50%
Increases effectiveness of Abilities by 50%.
Increases effectiveness of Magic by 50%
Increases effectiveness of Scaling by 50%
Increases effectiveness of Armor by 100%
Increases damage dealt and damage taken by 100%
Increases effectiveness of status effects on character by 100%
(Mental buffs and debuffs are only affected by sleep)
Decreases effectiveness of healing spells.
Decreases effectiveness of healing items except elixir.
Decreases EXP earned by 50%
Decreases armor degradation rate by 50%

~ 0 ~

And done. One more chapter written. I really like this story. I find it a lot more fun to write than I thought. Probably just the gamer in me talking but hey. Hope you guys enjoy it too.